Freetail Brewing Co. closes deal for downtown location

New laws mean brew pubs like Freetail can distribute beer — up to 10,000 barrels annually — to other retailers.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Scott Metzger is the owner of Freetail Brewing Company in San Antonio. Metzger is also an economics professor at UTSA and has been on the frontlines of a legislative battle that put an end to laws that hindered small craft breweries.

Freetail Brewing Co. announced that it has closed a deal to open a second location in the downtown area.

Plans are to build a brewery that can produce up to 10,000 barrels annually. The estimated cost to build out the site is about $3 million, according to a news release. The 30,000-square-foot facility, which sits on about 1.8 acres, is located at 2000 S. Presa St. The operation is expected to function as the company's manufacture brewery, which will produce beer for distribution.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Construction at the site is expected to start later this year with the operation going online sometime in 2014.